This cute little guy (or girl, I have no idea on the gender) has been living in the attic above my bedroom for years. The truth is the roof needs to be repaired, there's a gap on the side with plenty of room for inquisitive wildlife to enter. All attempts to keep him from climbing up to the roof have failed, it appears he's shimmying up the drainpipes. The drainpipes now have a spiked collar around them, but somehow he climbs up in spite of them.

At least he's been penned in, most of the attic is blocked off by a wire mesh fence. So instead of a luxury suite he's limited to a sort of studio apartment.

It was fascinating to catch him up there (that's the lower level of the roof just above the front door). Once he saw me he seemed to be about to climb back up that drainpipe, but then he thought better of it and curled up in the corner, it's like he decided to out wait me. It was evening and he was headed out, but clearly wasn't interested in hopping down with me out there. He stayed put long enough for me to bring my camera and tripod (it was getting dark fast, the exposure on this shot was 3.2 seconds) and take as many pictures as I wanted.

Eventually I went inside and watched from a front door window as he climbed down via a tree, demonstrating fairly impressive dexterity. I tended to think raccoons were a bit less limber than that, they seem too heavy to gently lower themselves down onto the end of a branch while supporting their weight on their front legs (on the end of the branch, not a very large surface).

I'm hoping that this encounter will deter him, but I kind of doubt it. I'm sure he knows he's living above humans, finally seeing one can't be that scary.